Ranchi | Sept 14, 2016: Chief minister Raghubar Das on Tuesday asked secretary of Union coal ministry Anil Swaroop to ensure that Coal India Limited makes arrangement for distributing water held up in abandoned coal mines to the nearby areas through pipeline. The state government will in turn make this water available to the villages by setting up water supply infrastructure.

Swaroop met Das at his residence to discuss issues relating to employment generation, mitigating underground coal fire in Jharia and rehabilitation of its people, power generation and status of coal mining in state.

An official release issued by the CMO read that the state government is going to sign an MoU with Coal India Limited for utilisation of the water struck in abandoned mines. "While the CIL will make arrangement to take out water, the state would take responsibility for treating and supplying it to the nearby villages as potable drinking water," the release said.

Sources in the CMO said that though there was no talk about operating the closed mines in state, some of which have been deallocated by an order of the apex court. Swaroop asked the state government to forward a proposal about the coal blocks where it wanted to start mining. Principal secretary to CM Sanjay Kumar said that there were talks about water supply and sports university. "The issue of closed mines was not discussed," he said.

Swaroop expressed interest in the state proposal for constitution of the sports university and assured to develop a model sports infrastructure in Jharkhand. The CM, on the other hand, responded positively to one of the issues related to the ferrying of coal. Das said that the state would hold talks with the railway ministry for laying of tracks to the coal mines so that excavated coal is transported through wagons.

Admitting that laying of track often necessitates felling of trees, Das said that the state would take care of protecting the environment while commissioning any such project.

(Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/)